Online marketing isn't only for e-commerce merchants. Retail shops, manufacturing concerns and service businesses alike can benefit from online marketing. And you don't have to be a tech wizard to get in the game. A host of firms provide products and services that make it easier than ever to take advantage of the Web as a marketing tool.

With so many innovative web marketing techniques available, you can choose one or all of them to kick-start an online campaign. Online marketing can be especially successful considering it can be:

1. Highly targeted
2. Inexpensive
3. Easily trackable

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Use banner ads

For a reasonable investment, banner ads can build brand awareness, boost traffic to your Web site and generate sales leads. Target Web sites that attract your customer base to get the most out of banner advertising.

I recommend: Use templates to create your ads with an online banner maker from Flash Banner Now or BannerServer.com.

Market via e-mail

Email marketing is a valuable tool in an online marketer's toolbox. E-mail is a quick, inexpensive way to reach prospects with special offers, coupons, newsletters and keep-in-touch messages. If you're on a shoestring budget, build your own e-mail list by asking visitors to sign up in your store or on your Web site.

I recommend: HeyBannerBanner.com produces HTML email for smaller budgets, and BannersOnline.com offers e-newsletter and email design. Try mUrgent's e-Coupon Club for e-coupon mailings.

Use pay-per-click (PPC) advertising

With PPC marketing on search engines, your text ad appears near search results when people type in keywords that you've chosen. Every time someone clicks on your ad, you pay a preset amount.

I recommend: Popular pay-per-click options include Google AdWords and Yahoo! Sponsored Search.

Use search engine optimization (SEO)

More than half of online purchases result from search engine listings, yet, 75 percent of search engine users never scroll past the first page. That's why SEO, which can improve your placement in those search engine listings, is so critical to successful online marketing. What are the keys to SEO? When submitting your site to search engines, choose keyword phrases or combinations of keywords that accurately describe your business, its products and services. Use those same keyword phrases when creating your site's title tags.

I recommend: Try the free optimization tools at AgentInteractive.com, or zero in on the best keyword phrases for your Web pages at KeywordDiscovery.com or WordTracker.com.

Use affiliate marketing

In affiliate marketing, affiliates promote your offering online in exchange for a commission per click, per lead or per sale. You may have seen people selling books on their site via Amazon; these are Amazon affiliates.

I recommend: Try a third-party marketing service like ClickBank, LinkShare, or Commission Junction.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  If you add prospects' addresses to your e-mail list without their permission or buy one of those 'millions of addresses for $99' CDs, you'll be branded a spammer. Ask prospects to sign up for your list on your Web site, and if you buy a list, confirm that it is opt-in only.
• •  In pay-per-click marketing, the more you pay per click, the higher your ad will rank among the other ads using those terms. Choosing narrow search terms will keep costs down; for example, a search term like 'collectibles' will cost you a bundle to rank among the highest advertisers, but you'll pay less -- and attract more qualified prospects -- if you use 'sports collectibles NJ.'
• •  Offer something of value to readers, such as free information, a coupon or a discount. No one is interested in reading a hard sell.